Desert Rose
by Akuma-Chibi
Summary: Kagome was abandoned as a child, treated ruthlessly by the villagers as if she were diseased and dirty, she became distant and quiet...one day...she disappeared. No one ever heard from her again; the forgotten girl of Suna. Until now...


**Desert Rose**

**Summary: Kagome was abandoned as a child, treated ruthlessly by the villagers as if she were diseased and dirty, she became distant and quiet...one day...she disappeared. No one ever heard from her again; the forgotten girl of Suna. Twelve years later, a rumor and a made up legend will spark the young Hokage's interest, what happens, when Gaara becomes captivated by...a Desert Rose...long since stained by the torment caused by his own people...**

**Perhaps**

**Love Can Still**

_**Bloom**_

**Anime: InuYasha/Naruto**

**Pairing: Gaara/Kagome**

**Genre: Romance/Angst/Comfort/Hurt**

**Rated: M for Mature**

**-x-x-x-**

**Once Upon A Time...**

**-x-x-x-**

_It's warm out, there's hardly ever any rain here...normally it's sweltering...but today it's just warm...kind of humid, and the sand is being kicked around by the angry winds that blew only more warmth, but no cool and refreshing breeze that would make the day more welcoming than it was. I'm hiding again...all I ever do is hide...I miss Mama...I miss Papa...it's scary when their not here...when they aren't close...Mama...Papa...come back~_

**-x-x-x-**

"_It's her..."_

A few mothers stared coldly at a young four year old standing alone behind a tree, watching as their kids played off in the sun.

"_It's creepy...how she's always watching the little ones!"_

"_Those marks..."_

"_They are the marks of the Poisoned clan...aren't they!"_

The girl could hear them, her eyes closed sadly as she touched her cheek. Black marks dripping from the center of both her left and right eyes into a sharp point were placed evenly vertically down her cheeks.

"Oi! Get lost you filthy rat!"

The girl cringed and stepped back to avoid being struck with a tree twig. Her tangled black hair snapped painfully into her baby blue eyes that were now seeping tears at the corner of her eyes. She glanced once more at the curious kids who had turned to see what their mothers were doing to the girl their age. Without a word, she ducked away and ran...

She was dressed in a filthy taupe robe that tied over her left shoulder, frayed and tattered at the hem and sleeves, marred with dirt and mold stains, she had worn the same thing since her parents had up and left her in Sunagakura. _"...is not rat..."_

**-x-x-x-**

A new year passed and it was the same as the year before; the same abuse...the same hurtful words...the same girl waiting.

"_Henge...no...jut-su..."_ She read the words on the scroll she'd stolen and tried to understand the writing beneath it. It was from the academy, one of their lessons, and she'd snuck in before taking the closest scroll and running off to hide once more. Now there were kids running about trying to find it, and she knew that they wouldn't think to look for her. She was invisible, unless right in front of them...then she was target practice.

Mind you, her dodging skills were improving.

"A Jutsu used to disguise yourself as someone or something else, fooling your pursuer or those you are pursuing."

"Pursuing and Pursuer," She thought back to countless other things she'd stolen to read, "Pursuing is following, Pursuer is being followed by someone...disguise, that's dressing like someone you aren't and blending in..." She frowned, moving her thumbs, pointer fingers and middle fingers against one another, her ring fingers and pinky fingers were bent down, their knuckles also pressed against one another. "...hm..." She moved her fingers about to produce a new sign, then another, and another, until she had done them all at least once.

"It's important to have an idea in your head of what you want to look like; as well, you should make sure to keep a strong hold over the amount of chakra used and the balanced flow."

"Then...all at once!" The five year old let them run a cycle, "Henge No Jutsu!" A soft _~poof~_ was heard and she looked down at herself. "I have...looks like...before..." She frowned, "What is...chakra?"

**-x-x-x-**

**(One Year Later)**

**-x-x-x-**

'_Idiot!'_ Kagome glared from the roof top where she sat with a book in her lap. She looked at a little boy who was pulling on a little girls' pigtail, causing the girl to cry out in pain. Now, despite referring to the girl as 'little', she was older than Kagome. By two years, she was older, "He get's beaten up every time he does that," The boy who was pulling the girls hair, was in fact, the girls brother, younger brother. He was a year older than Kagome. They were two of the Kazekage's children, the youngest was Kagome's age, and was rarely seen about. She'd only seen him once, and it hadn't been pleasant.

_~x~x~x~Flashback~x~x~x~_

_(Four Months Ago)_

_Kagome sauntered down the road, her hair was brown today, unlike her normal black hair that it usually was, and her eyes were green rather than their natural blue._

"_Hello Miss. Satsuki, how are you today?"_

_A woman turned and smiled as the little girl entered her shop. "I'm good, Koi-Chan, how are you?"_

"_Good, I came for another book, if that's okay."_

"_Of course! How is your mother?" She asked, watching as the girl looked among the books in thought._

"_Good, she's wondering around here somewhere, works later."_

"_I see, well, tell her to come and say hi when she can."_

_Kagome nodded, "Yeah, I will!" She pulled a book from the shelf and held it up to the woman, "This one?"_

"_Are you sure? It's pretty advanced. **A Guide to Jounin Secret Techniques**, is a complex book."_

"_I know, my mom told me to get something different, so...goodbye tree climbing, hello..." She flipped open the book and read out loud, "...Summoning...cool,"_

_Satsuki laughed, "Alright then, will your mom be paying for this one too when she stops by?"_

_Kagome nodded, "Yeah, she'll be by later."_

"_Alright then, let me take down the title, kay!" Satsuki grabbed an a pencil and paper, "A Guide to Jounin Secret Techniques, good luck, Koi-Chan!"_

_Kagome smiled and left, making sure she was out of sight of the bookshop in Suna, she ducked around the corner, checked to make sure she was alone, then ~poof~. "Goodbye, Koimei-Chan," Kagome smiled. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief at not yet being discovered as both Koimei-Chan, and her mother, Mai. Well...that is...until just now; as sand wrapped around her waist and wrists. She looked behind her, and rather than staring in fear, she looked on in surprise. A boy, no older than herself, was staring untrustingly at her. "Who...?"_

"_Sabaku no Gaara,"_

"_...uh oh..." She wasn't stupid, she knew that name. It was the youngest child of the Kazekage, and everyone feared him...for one reason or another._

"_You are a spy,"_

"_No I'm not!" Kagome frowned, "I'm a villager of Suna!"_

"_...I've never seen you around before..."_

_Kagome sighed sadly, "I'm not well liked, so...I use the Henge no Jutsu to blend in. Rocks hurt, you know?"_

"_..." The sand around her loosened, "They throw rocks at you?"_

"_Yeah, because I'm a street rat, or so I've been told. I made up Koimei, and Mai, the daughter and mother who were found unconscious just outside of the Village Hidden in the Sand. People like them, and I get around better that way. As Mai, I told the Kazekage that I didn't want Koimei to attend the Ninja Academy, that way, I could work as Mai during school hours, and read and learn as Koimei during the later afternoon."_

_Gaara looked on in awe, "Your five though, right?"_

"_Well, I'll be six soon...but it doesn't matter, I've had to learn everything on my own, with no help from anyone. I had to learn to read, to write, and to fight...all on my own, so it's no longer hard for me to live alone or work as an adult would. It's easy really. The person you work for, tells you what to do, teach you how to do it, and then lets you try it on your own. It is easy, if you pay attention and listen."_

"_Ah! So that's it~!"_

_Kagome turned in surprise, and saw a man with a sick grin on his face._

"_If you want it to stay a secret, you need to do something for me."_

_Kagome growled out in annoyance, "I don't need to do anything for you!"_

_Gaara released her, turning his eyes on the man who was advancing on the girl beside him. Hi; his sand wrapped around the mans' throat, and then the rest of his body._

_Kagome watched in horror as the Kazekage's youngest son held his hand out and squeeze tightly. She flinched back as something warm and wet splashed against her cheek and down her neck. Her eyes looked at the carcass of the man on the ground, lifeless, unmoving, and useless to society now. "...how..."_

_Gaara stepped back, sure that she would run in fear, but when she stepped forward and took his hand in hers, he was left startled and unsure of what to do. He let her pull him to a rooftop where she sat down on a blanket that was set up neatly. A first aid kit atop it and some other things; she pulled out some cleaning wipes and started to wipe clean the blood from his cheeks and arms._

"_You need to be careful, Little Kage."_

_He looked curiously at her, "Little Kage?"_

"_Yes, you will be the next Kage after your father, right?"_

"_...yes,"_

"_Then you must be careful, these people, these villagers, they will ultimately become your people, the people you must protect, and you will...I'm sure of it."_

"_I'm a monster,"_

_Kagome smiled, "You helped me, right?" She stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, "You are no monster, but that's not to say you don't act like one at times. I'm sure, everyone has a dark side and that we all act like monsters at times, but I don't think there really is such a thing."_

_Gaara stared at her, and with a smile, she turned, than with a trick she'd learned a while back, she vanished in a swirl of sand._

_~x~x~x~End Flashback~x~x~x~_

Kagome had made sure to be extra careful after that, not even returning to that rooftop, in case the littlest of the Kazekage's children decided to pay her a visit. She didn't need anyone getting in her way, or accidently revealing her secret.

Sighing, she looked over at the older of the siblings and laughed silently as the blonde thumped her brother on the head and dropped to her knee to kick him in the gut with her other foot. Kagome watched and then stood up, walking to the center of the roof, she went through a few of the Academy's sparing drills that she'd watched from the rooftops, then dropped and kicked the air, in a similar manner as the girl below had. She did the same move again, this time, sweeping her foot in a full circle and standing, all in one fluid motion.

She'd been learning a lot since she first started reading in the form of _Koimei_, and it helped that she had money, working at the weaponry as _Mai_, and it was easy to pull off the double life with a simple Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, in which, her clone would be one or the other, while she made sure they kept solid forms, which grew easier and easier with each passing day.

Kagome looked in wonder at the small mirror she had lying beside her, the two black lined on her face, she had never paid much attention to them, but it was like a tear falling perfectly centered from her eyes, to the center of her cheek, and ending in a tip, the tear streak was black though...no one else had them, but she did, and that's why, she always made sure to hide them well when she did the Henge no Jutsu. She had actually taken to calling them fangs, or...at times...she would referrer to them as the poison that drips from the fangs of a cobra, being that they were black.

She picked up her book, placed it next to the mirror on the blanket, pulled the four corners up and tied them together before vanishing off the roof without a trace.

If she were to choose a rank of Ninja, one that best categorized her, it would be Chuunin. She wasn't anything special she was just advanced for her age, but what did that matter, it was expected. She had to survive and to survive, she had to be strong, and smart, and quick...in her mind, this was how she was supposed to be.

Forming a few hand signs, a soft and subtle _~poof~_ sounded from behind a large cluster of tree's, and a woman in her mid-twenties stepped out, dressed in a simple tan pair of khaki's, and a black kimono top that tied at her side and stopped two inches past the button of her pants. Her feet were covered in a pair of bamboo Shinobi sandals, and her hair, brown, and tied back in a long braid that stopped just at her waist. She gazed around at her surroundings, her eyes were dark brown, and her skin was pale. Taking the blanket and her stuff that she had tied up within it, she placed it in a woven basket that she'd made with much effort and many injuries. Yes, the snapping of thin pieces of bamboo against her flesh, hurt!

"Oh! Mrs. Mai!"

Kagome turned and smiled, the blonde girl whom she'd seen earlier was also one of her favorite customers, and conversationalists. "Temari-Sama, how are you today?" She noticed the slightly crooked pigtail, walking up and fixing it out of habit, "Did you get into another fight?"

"Not this time, Kankuro pulled on my hair!" She crossed her arms angrily over her chest, "But that aside, has Master Jinguku made anything new recently?"

"Hm? Yes, I think so..."

One thing that came with having three roles in life, with two being _non-existent_, is the different vernacular types in which one must study and master. The skill in which Kagome had the most trouble honing was speech, but she had managed to perfect it, listening to the adults at the flower shops, the schools, the book shop and the market. She was a kid, so her skills in child lingo were unrivaled. Still, she sometimes worried that someone might realize her, at times, childish demeanor and suspect something foul was at play.

Thankfully, however, that had yet to happen. It was strange, but the women of the village would just say her childish slip-up were adorable, or cute and naïve. That had been the decided personality of _Mai_; fun, naïve, cute and adorable. _Koimei_, on the other hand, was quite helpful around the village and...at times, a little impertinent, but nothing that would classify her as disrespectful, well, not too disrespectful...she had her moments. However, the fact of the matter was, she had made personas to play to her advantage, and even though it was working out so far, she knew that soon...she would have to leave, her game would be figured out, and she would be forced to runaway...that...was inevitable.

"Why don't we go see what Master Jinguku has?" Kagome smiled with true sincerity. "I think I saw him working on something special for you in the back of the shop the other day."

"Really!"

"Really," Kagome led the girl back to the shop with a sad smile. Yes, her ruse would have to come to an end soon, but how would it conclude in terms of her leaving. Would she be found out, or was she strong enough to leave...before...

**-x-x-x-**

**Me: Chapter One is done, hope you guys enjoy! Please tell me what you think! ^_^''**


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